Burpee Variations

17 Burpee Variations That Will Kick Your Butt Into Shape

Burpees are like the hated, unwanted bastard child of exercise. Burpees are the Tyrion Lannister of fitness —typically hated by everyone but somehow actually as good an option for you as any exercise you in your training repertoire.

Burpees have the throne when it comes to full-body bodyweight functional fitness. It hits your arms, shoulders, chest, quads, glutes, abs and hamstrings. It is a muscle-builder, but it’s also a cardio move. And they are one of the most simple bodyweight moves. Simply drop to the floor and then get back up. That’s it.

“It’s probably one of the worst movements over time and over rep scheme that just starts to deteriorate you and breaks you down from a standpoint of getting your heart rate extremely elevated and just the fatigue that sets in from using every major muscle group that’s used throughout the movement,” said Michael Ramirez, head coach at Reebok CrossFit Fifth Ave in New York. “You’re talking about an upper body blow to a lower body blow to having your lungs just collapse on you between the actual movement itself, the diaphragm opening and closing, not being able to catch your breath, creating different intensities with it. It’s by far, the worst thing ever.”

Is it also the best thing ever?

“Probably, yes,” he said. “It’s the exact opposite at the same time. It’s like, you can hit that runner’s high doing burpees where at some point it becomes enjoyable but at the same time, the worst thing you can think about doing.”

Burpees require that you simulate a pushup and a squat, you can do them anywhere and it will light your heart rate up. It’s also suitable for virtually any fitness level. They also don't demand any equipment or take up much space.

“It’s a movement that can stimulate any type of athlete whether you’re a Day 1 athlete or a Day 1,000 athlete,” Ramirez added. “Depending on where you’re at, as a coach that’s programming something for you, I can create or find a stimulus that’s going to make you get to that very uncomfortable place, very fast. So it’s kind of one of those universal movements that no matter what level you’re on you can create a stimulus that’s going to get you to the same end result, which is, I hate f*ckin’ burpees. It’s a full body destroyer.”

So here’s how to execute a perfect burpee:

Step 1: Bring your hands down and place directly underneath your shoulders so that you’re creating some stability as we’re going down and dropping into a pushup position. Ramirez noted that the biggest misconception about doing burpees, from a coaching perspective, is that you should simply collapse to the floor.

Instead, think about creating a small tunnel that you want your up and down motion to pass through so that you can build tension and body awareness while getting the most out of each rep.

Step 2: Guide the body down to the floor. Kick your feet back until you’re in the bottom of the push-up position with your torso on the floor.

Step 3: Press your palms through the floor and drive the hips down toward the floor.

Step 5: Celebrate. Jump straight up in the air with both hands above your head. You can clap and applaud yourself if you like.

Watch out for: Over-extending your back. Ramirez warned that when athletes start to fatigue they start to peel their upper body up off the ground and drag their feet underneath, forgetting the hip drive and putting increased pressure on your back. Instead of simply peeling yourself off the floor, break down the burpees by slowing down. From the bottom position, lift your torso up first. Then get up using one leg at a time until you’re standing comfortably.

Not hard enough? Here’s a walk through of 17 more variations you can try today:

Half-burpee: Start from the standing position. Bend at the waist, kick your feet back and place your hands on the floor, shoulder-width apart, into a standard push-up position. The drive your hips toward the floor, pulling your feet back underneath your hips and return to the standing position.

Burpee with pushup: Execute a standard burpee, dropping your torso fully to the floor. Then, keeping your elbows tucked against your sides, perform one pushup. At the top of the pushup position, drive your hips toward the floor, pull your feet underneath and return to the starting position.

Twister burpee: Execute a standard burpee, but when you jump at the top, turn your entire body to face the opposite direction. Perform another burpee and repeat.

Burpee tuck-jump: After performing a standard burpee, jump as high as you can, pulling your knees toward your chest. Land with soft knees and continue into the next repetition.

Burpee broad jump: Perform a standard burpee and instead of jumping straight up, leap forward as far as you can. Land softly into a quarter-squat position. Stand and repeat.

Star burpee: After performing a standard burpee, jump as high as you can reach both hands in the above your head and kicking your feet out as wide as possible.

Hand release burpee: Drop to your torso to the floor as you would for a standard burpee. Lift your hands completely off the floor to ensure you’ve reached a dead stop. Return your hands just underneath your armpits and perform a pushup. Drive the hips down toward the floor, kick your feet back underneath and return to the starting position.

Single-arm burpee: Perform a half-burpee using only one arm to brace yourself at the bottom. Maintain a tight core and make sure drop your hips low enough to simulate a pushup position.

Single-leg burpee: Perform a standard burpee, dropping your torso completely to the floor, while keeping one leg off the floor at all times.

Burpee straddle-jump: Perform a standard burpee. When you reach the top to jump, shoot both legs out as far as possible and return them underneath to land.

Six-position burpee: In this variation break down each part of a standard burpee. First lower your hands to the floor, keeping your legs straight for as long as possible. Shoot your legs out behind you. Lower down slowly to the ground. Perform a single pushup. Drive your hips toward the floor. Shoot your feet underneath and return to standing and jump.

Deficit Burpees: Grab two bumper plates, or parallette bars or even a stack a couple books on the floor. Just make sure they are about your shoulder-width apart. Drop down into your standard burpee, resting your hands on each plate and allowing your chest to fall in the middle. Explode up just as you would in any burpee. Be sure to keep your core tight and don't let your hips lag.

Burpee box jump: Perform a standard burpee, then jump onto a plyo-box or bench. Stand fully at the top with your hips underneath you. Return to the floor and immediately start the next rep.

Burpee box jumpover: After performing a standard burpee, leap completely over a plyo-box or bench. Perform another burpee on the opposite side. If this is too difficult, jump onto the box and down on the other side before moving on to the next rep.

Burpee pullup: Perform a standard burpee, then jump onto a pullup bar. Make sure you are at a dead hang before executing a pullup.

Burpee muscle-up: Perform a burpee underneath a pair of gymnastic rings or pullup bar. Then jump onto the rings and perform a full muscle-up. Be sure to come to a complete stop at the bottom of the muscle-up before moving onto the next rep.